The Photography Thread

[MartyG]

I've been looking at extension tubes too - I'll be intrested to see how you get on with them. If you cope nicely with them I'll get a set myself.

I got my final eBay purchase this morning ( haven't been spending loads, ?10 here and there ), but much to my annoyance, the Carl Zeiss lens is fooked. The apature ring on it doesn't work, so the lens sticks at f2.8.

I've taken the lens apart, and it's pretty clear what the issue is, though probably a bugger to fix - very fiddly. The spring that tenses when you open the apature wide is not springy anymore, so when you close the apature the blades don't close back - not mentioned in the sale though was it :/

[PeteJ]

That sucks, hope you give neg feedback!

Checkout this macro sequence: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/438876
My god...

(the above website is designed for pro photographers, it has some pretty inspired shots, but also a lot of handy information)

[Anpanman]

I don't know why so many "real" photographers have problems with them - I reckon they're great. Their lack of bulk and being able to take them anywhere is a real plus.

Indeed, going back twenty years or so when the big manufacturers started bringing out quality 35mm point & shoot cameras with nice 2.8 lenses (though Canon had a model with a 1.9) the Nikon model actually won press photographer camera of the year as the journos were sticking one in their pocket & taking some great candid shots with them.

[Spatial]

Checkout this macro sequence: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/438876
My god...

Disturbing and fascinating at the same time.

[PeteJ]

Got some good news this morning: I won the BBC Spring Watch Photoraphy Competition

I get a free tour around the BBC studios by one of the presenters, not sure when it is yet though. I suspect it'll just be the local Plymouth studio rather than HQ, but still pretty chuffed!

[MartyG]

Nice one Pete - what photo did you win it with?

[PeteJ]

Either http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjohns/159989569/ or
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjohns/159987160/

They had to be taken on the day of the event, at a set location. Was the weekend I got my macro lens so was still struggling with focusing, hence the out of focus bee

[MartyG]

That's really cool.

Been out taking a few this morning, I liked the ant one, despite the depth being a bit shallow :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/218984493/ - Overseer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/218984492/ - Get Closer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/218984491/ - Centre of Sun

Need to get some film loaded in that Praktica this morning - got some Ilford FP4 125 to try.

[MartyG]

Got a couple of shots I'm quite please with this afternoon:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/219165329/ - Goggled Flyer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/219026456/ - Life sucks

Both best viewed with the large or original images.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/martypg13/219210385/ - Skilled Aviator - Amazed this didn't fly away when I got real close.

Also got this shot, which isn't really clear enough to upload to my flickr page, I think it must be an anti-ladybird: http://picasaweb.google.com/martypg/...95025187045394

[Spatial]

I'd like to blame this thread for spoiling my enjoyment of Dead Rising.

Every cutscene I see Frank West trying to take a picture I can't stop the voice in my head asking "I wonder what lense he's using?"

[Alastair]

Congrats Pete, well done. You can win their photographer of the YEAR next now!

[Alastair]

Took this all the way back in May but didn't really consider it to be any good. Played about with it in PS last night though and blued the sky a bit which was the main problem (it was so grey). Cropped it a little and like it a lot more now



Marty, did you manage to use the film camera at the w/e?

[MartyG]

I did - though I've not completely finished the roll of film, I didn't really see much that was worth taking a B&W photo of ( need the contrasts ) - was quite fun taking photos with it though.

[MartyG]

http://nikonimaging.com/global/activ...2007/index.htm - Nikon Photo Contest International

Might be of interest to contributors of this thread. Only the first 20,000 submissions are accepted, so you might want to get in quickly.

Another competition: http://www.photogalaxy.com/competition.php - not quite so grand prizes, but an interesting theme.

And another one from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/environm...hotocomp.shtml

And one more for good luck: http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/arti...112925,00.html

[PeteJ]

Finally got my new toys today, so have just spent a few minutes playing. As you can see, they have turned my tiny 350d into a mighty beast!

First off - the Canon 430EX. I've not used a flashgun before but this one was very affordable and highly rated. It seems pretty easy to use (along with Stoffen defuser), there are loads of modes and settings but I've left it all as default for now...it adds quite a bit of weight, which had a surprising effect on my ability to hold the camera steady. I keep getting caught out by the recharge time too, curses.

Likewise - the Kenko extension tubes. The three black rings sit between the camera body and lens, and are basically nothing but air. No optics involved, so aren't at pricey (though, for what you get, I guess they are!). They increase the distance to the sensor so increase focal distance at the cost of image quality. They are normally used to convert a standard lens into a macro cheaply, however by fitting to my current macro lens they are doubled the effective ratio to 2:1 - two times life size.

As for ease of use - I'm struggling all over again. It's now an absolute biatch to get anything in focus. The extra length of the lens shifts the balance point and this has made my camera pretty difficult to hold one-handed (it'd be better off on a 20d or similar, 350d is quite small). The focal distance has decreased so for max 'zoom' I need to get in at about 10cm and it has also removed the telephoto side of the lens - furthest away I can get is roughly 70cm.

I'll add that these Kenko extensions are about the third of the cost of one official canon extension tube (here you get three). They are both made by the same company (Kenko) and both have exactly the same fitting, but I can see why the official ones cost more. The build quality is...iffy. It looks far too easy to unclip the lens from the front tube, which would be a very costly thing to do. Also the whole thing rocks ever so slightly which is not nice. I wasn't confortable holding the camera in one hand like I used to be, particially due to weight but also because I'm still unsure of the thing!

A waste then? No I don't think so, hopefully when I get used to the extra weight I'll start seeing some results. I spent 10 minutes earlier looking at a spider that must have been only 5mm big, but it filled the entire frame (and more!). I really couldn't get it in focus though. I hope with practice it'll start to come together.